Alignment
Thread Starter
Advanced
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 75
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From: Show Low Arizona
Alignment
I have 20,000miles on the origional super car tires. Back one's are in good shape and wear evenly. The fronts are worn on the outside much more than the innerside. The dealer says that is normal and the way they align them at the factory--improves handling! Don't have a alignment. Is this true?? Thanks
Le Mans Master
Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 6,099
Likes: 64
From: Houston TX
St. Jude Donor '09
Uneven tire wear is not "normal." Wear on the outsides of the fronts may come from lots of aggressive cornering, camber too far positive (or, more likely, not enough negative angle), or a combination of the two. Sounds like the camber is off a bit for your driving style.
Drifting
Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 1,837
Likes: 4
Uneven tire wear is not "normal." Wear on the outsides of the fronts may come from lots of aggressive cornering, camber too far positive (or, more likely, not enough negative angle), or a combination of the two. Sounds like the camber is off a bit for your driving style.
Or too much toe out.
Bottom line is that correct alignment is what works for you, giving you good handling and even tire wear. And they do go together - best grip is achieved when the greatest amount of tire is firmly in contact with the road.
There are some good starting numbers posted in the stickys here.
SUBVETTE
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 3,841
Likes: 93
From: San Diego CA
I have the same situation at 15K miles; rears even wear, fronts more wear at outside edges. I assumed that hard cornering was the culprid. Perhaps higher air pressure would help; has anyone tried that? What air pressure are most of you carrying? Incidently, I hope we are all discussing the same tire - the Goodyear Supercar EMT that is OEM on Z51 equipped and Z06 Models only.
Drifting
Joined: Jul 2001
Posts: 1,896
Likes: 3
From: New Bern NC
If you got 20K miles, you are easy on the tires, most do not get near that much. At that many miles, I would think some outside wear would be normal. But, if it has not been aligned since the factory, I would have it checked by someone you can trust. Mine was out ( at the edge of the alignment window but not near dead-on) as it came from the factory.
Burning Brakes
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 1,107
Likes: 55
From: PA
St. Jude Donor '21 thru '26
My 2006 has 15100 miles on it and the outside edges are slightly cupped or scalloped. Went to two dealers and spoke the the "Corvette Guy" and they both said the same thing that this was a normal wear pattern. Both said they would take my money to checked thealignment but felt it was aligned properly. Comment was also made that the C5's were much worse. Leif
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Le Mans Master
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 6,813
Likes: 287
From: Toronto Ontario Canada
This has been covered before. Some of the factory alignments are fair and some are horrible. What do you expect for something done so fast in a production enviroment. Do yourself a favour and get a precision alignment. The money you save with longer tire life is worth the cost of the alignment.
Go big or don't go...
Joined: May 2005
Posts: 1,569
Likes: 1
From: Georgetown TX
all new corvette's should be aligned before 5000 miles - period. I'm not willing to debate it; I was at the factory and there was NOT an alignment machine. There were road-humps outside for them to drive on etc and that was it.
Get it aligned and ask for the before and after printout.
Cheers
JK
Get it aligned and ask for the before and after printout.
Cheers
JK
Burning Brakes
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 824
Likes: 0
all new corvette's should be aligned before 5000 miles - period. I'm not willing to debate it; I was at the factory and there was NOT an alignment machine. There were road-humps outside for them to drive on etc and that was it.
Get it aligned and ask for the before and after printout.
Cheers
JK
Get it aligned and ask for the before and after printout.
Cheers
JK
GOOD IDEA
Race Director
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 10,089
Likes: 14
The SC tires that come on Z51 optioned cars have a very soft tire compound. They are very sensitive to the slightest misalignment. If you want them to last (at least as much as they can last) get the car aligned, at a good shop (typically not a dealer shop).
OTOH, the GS tires that come on the non-Z51 optioned cars use a harder compound. They're fairly tolerant of slight misalignments. Mine were out quite a bit from the factory. By the time I got around to getting the car aligned, a set of SC tires would have been ruined, but the GS tires were still fine. I have 40k+ miles on my original tires, even wear, and good tread left.
OTOH, the GS tires that come on the non-Z51 optioned cars use a harder compound. They're fairly tolerant of slight misalignments. Mine were out quite a bit from the factory. By the time I got around to getting the car aligned, a set of SC tires would have been ruined, but the GS tires were still fine. I have 40k+ miles on my original tires, even wear, and good tread left.
